With the growth of an aging population especially in retirement communities around beaches, there is a requirement that the individual be able to ride a bike from his or her residence to a beach and be able to traverse the beach on the bicycle without undo propulsion and balance problems.
While dune buggies and like motorized vehicles exist, there is a problem with utilizing standard bicycles on a beach due to the difficulty in riding such a bike, including getting it going, and also steering it as well as keeping it upright. This is because on loose sand as well as in wet sand conditions the effort to propel the bike is often insurmountable with other than Herculean effort.
The obvious reason is that the bike tires of a conventional bicycle sink into the dry sand making propulsion, balancing and steering impossible for a large number of individuals. It turns out that the pedaling on dry sand is exceedingly difficult, requiring extreme use of leg strength even in the lowest gear.
Moreover, balancing a traditional bike on sand is difficult due to the sands unstable foundation.
Even with compacted dry sand, while there is considerable difficulty in starting up, once movement is commenced it is less difficult to stay balanced and ride for a considerable distance. However, even with dry compacted sand standard bicycles sink into the sand for as much as two inches. Moreover, even if one can propel the bicycle, steering is difficult in any direction aside from straightforward due to the sinkage into the top layer of sand, for instance on an average of 1½ inches.
On wet or semi compacted sand a conventional bicycle is likewise difficult to pedal and steer. Stopping and starting repeatedly over for instance a distance of 10 to 12 feet is difficult due to the inability to get the bike started again, requiring great strength. Moreover in wet or semi compacted sand the rear tire of the bicycle does not achieve good traction. Additionally, on wet and compacted sand front tire sliding is a cause for bike instability resulting in the impossibility of an individual to balance on the bike.
Thus for conventional bikes, even those defined as mountain bikes, riding on sand be it loose sand, dry compacted sand, or wet and semi compacted sand is exceedingly difficult under human-power. Even if motorized attachments are made to the bicycle, balancing and steering is still a problem, with the motorization only solving the propulsion problem. Note, the majority of beaches do not allow motorized vehicle to be driven on the beaches except by law enforcement personnel.
While motorized dune buggies and the like have been provided in the past, it will be appreciated that these vehicles are four wheel vehicles which have a four point stance and therefore are relatively stable. These vehicles are not readily adapted for human pedaling and were devised because of the inability to take a conventional bicycle and pedal it through the sand. Thus, drivability of conventional bicycles over various beach conditions has proved either impossible or very difficult at best.
There is therefore a need for a different bicycle design that can be pedaled by a human being with ease, in which propulsion, steering and balance problems are minimized.